


Graffiti

by A_Hundred_Jewels



Category: Original Work
Genre: A Prince, F/M, Graffiti, Please read, Vandalism, hopefully funny, i tried to make this funny, kingdom - Freeform, living in the moment, modern fairytale, my first F/M (ish), old building, sort of vandalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18476512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Hundred_Jewels/pseuds/A_Hundred_Jewels
Summary: Lilana Challenger was just an ordinary girl living in the kingdom of Ymnashka. However, she grew tired of being so ordinary. On the night that she graduated college, Lilana decided that she was going to do something more; that she was going to step outside the box. For the first time that she could remember, Lilana simply lived in the moment.Prince Joe Linsaliti was not ordinary to anyone. He also didn't think that Lilana is ordinary, but Lilana didn't know that. When he saw something strange out of his window early in the morning, he decided to see what was up. What he saw was far from what he expected.





	Graffiti

**Author's Note:**

> This is just my attempt at a modernish fairy tale. The characters and story are all my own. Please give it a read, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Once upon a time, in the vast and mountainous region of Pittlepittle, there was a kingdom by the name of Ymnashka (yim-NASH-kuh). It was one of those kingdoms that everyone had at least vaguely heard of, but nobody ever visited. You’d hear someone at the Zikzok marketplace say, “Hey, did you hear that there’s going to be some poetry reading or something in Ymnashka?” The other person would reply, “Yeah, I did. I was thinking of going, but Leigh’s away with her plumbing crew this weekend, and the kids don’t like going places without her,” or “Yeah, I wish I could go, but I can’t remember how to get there.” On and on the excuses went. It didn’t even matter that everyone knew for a fact that Ymnashka was fairly poor and could use some tourism. There was always golf practice, or a sick mule, or the compass got flushed down the toilet, and now the whole damn thing’s blowing up. Anyways, people hardly ever went to Ymnashka. 

However, if someone were to find Gurklurke City, take I-3001 to Retep Canal, cross Bridge No. 2, and take the hour-long train ride to Ymnashka, they would probably find it quite lovely there. It wasn’t as grand as Zikzok, or modern, like Novokesna, but it was small and cozy. There was no ihop or Dunkin Donuts (those businesses hadn’t made it past the Retep Canal), but there was a very tiny Starbucks. There was also a very popular restaurant called Timothy’s that was generally referred to as The Craphole. (Years ago, before it was anything more than an old building, someone had painted “craphole” on its side. Everyone either forgot it was there, or found it hilarious, and nobody could be bothered to paint over it). 

What the people of Ymnashka did not know, was who had done the painting. Most people assumed it was some band of mischievous fifth graders (they’d been the culprits of some pretty weird stuff). In fact, they were far from the truth. No elementary school student had ever bothered with that old building. Instead, the painter had been the queen herself. Of course, she wasn’t actually the queen yet when she painted “craphole” on the wall of the building. Not at all. On the night of the painting, Lilana Challenger was nothing more than an agitated girl, twenty-one years old, who wanted nothing more than to be weird.  
___

Before she married King Joe Linsaliti (who was then just a prince), Lilana was just an ordinary girl living in the kingdom of Ymnashka. She had graduated from high school, and studied online at Phoenix University (Ymnashka didn’t have any nearby colleges). Lilana graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics, just like many other people in Ymnashka had. She even had brown eyes, like almost everyone else. Without her bright red hair, and the star-shaped birthmark on her right hand, Lilana might have been mistaken for any number of Ymnashkan girls. 

Well, Lilana grew rather tired of being ordinary. She bore it throughout her school years, but, on the night that she graduated university, Lilana found herself especially restless. She longed to get out, longed to do something different. Something that none of her friends had ever dreamed of doing. She’d been invited to celebrate graduation with some of her friends and many of the other new graduates, who were all spending the night in Dodedome, the next kingdom over. Lilana, however, had declined. They’d all gone out to Dodedome less than a week ago, and she felt like it would only make her feel more pent up. So, Lilana spent the night at home, with her parents and her little brother. And, though it was okay, it did nothing to quell the unruly swells of energy that coursed through her blood.

Lying in bed Lilana’s heart was heavy. Everyone was telling her that she should feel happy. She was free; she could do anything. She wasn’t a kid anymore. Lilana, though, couldn’t see anything to celebrate. She was already twenty-one years old (twenty-one!), and in her entire life, she’d never stepped outside the box. She’d always been miffed at people who thought she was normal, but she had never actually done anything to cause them to question her being normal. Suddenly, Lilana sat up in bed, her heart thudding determinedly against her chest. Tonight was the night.

It was easier to decide to do something nuts than to actually do it, as Lilana discovered. What was she even going to do? Then, she remembered her last trip to Gurklurke City. The place had fascinated her. Everyone there was so different, not just from Ymnashkans, but from each other. Her favourite thing, though, had been the graffiti. It covered buildings in all different colors. There were words, pictures, even a few murals. Ymnashka didn’t really have any of that. That, Lilana decided, was going to change. 

Lilana’s parents had recently repainted their bedroom. The previous color had been maroon, which was very pretty, but Lilana’s mother had finally complained of feeling like the room was closing in on her at night. Her father thought that this was absurd, but the paint was starting to crack anyway, so they repainted the whole thing white. What they did not know, was that there was a leftover can of paint. (After they’d finished painting and Lilana noticed that there was one can left over, she’d snuck it into her closet. She might have felt bad about taking it, but her parents would have just forgotten about it in the shed or somewhere, and Lilana would have just taken it from there. Taking it now really just prevented later thievery). 

She got dressed entirely in black, and put on her older brother’s balaclava, making sure to tuck all of her bright red hair inside. Lilana pulled on her mother’s rain boots, which, thankfully, were quite common in Ymnashka, so her footprints wouldn’t be recognized. The only thing that Lilana didn’t think to hide was the star-shaped birthmark on her hand. All of the family’s gloves were in a giant bag in the basement, and the stairs were creaky. The only thing she could’ve done would have been to put socks on hands, but the issue hadn’t even occurred to her, so Lilana didn’t think of it. Also, it was late spring, so the air was pretty warm.

In as full of a disguise as she was going to put on, Lilana grabbed a paintbrush and the can of paint, and slipped silently into the night.

Finding something to paint wasn’t actually that hard. Lilana knew Ymnashka by heart. She also knew that nobody would be awake at two in the morning (especially because most of the town’s college students were in Dodedome). Just to be safe, though, Lilana avoided the few street lamps as best she could, while she made her way around the kingdom. Soon, she found a building that hadn’t been used in years. Carefully, she set down the paint can in front of the most intact wall (it was a little run down in one corner). She was about to dip her paintbrush into the can, when it occurred to her that she didn’t actually know what she was going to write. She could quote a book. She could draw something. Hell, Lilana could put pretty much anything on that wall. Choosing from “anything,” though, was like trying to find a particular raindrop in among a hurricane.

Lilana must have stood in front of that wall for half an hour, trying to decide what to write on the wall of that old building. She wanted it to be something that wouldn’t be forgotten (graffiti was basically non-existent in Ymnashka, so she shouldn’t really have worried about that). But, it was almost three, and Lilana hadn’t slept at all, and she was starting to sweat inside of the balaclava. She was hot, and tired, and couldn’t remember why she was doing this in the first place. Life was just a bunch of crap, anyway. In a fit of irritation, Lilana wrote CRAPHOLE in enormous letters on the side of the building. Satisfied at last, she went home. 

Back in her bedroom, Lilana closed the can of paint as well as she could. She put it into a box marked FEMININE STUFF-DON’T LOOK, and shoved it into the very back of her closet. She didn’t think anyone would look anyway. She changed back into pyjamas, returned the balaclava and boots, then washed off the paintbrush, which she stuffed under her pillow as a memento of her adventure. For the first time in a long while, Lilana went to sleep with a smile on her face. 

Little did she know that a man named Timothy had big plans for that old building. (Well, he had big-ish plans. He’d need a bit more money to have big plans). Lilana also would not have guessed that Timothy would think that the, um, unusual graffiti would add a certain charm to the place. (Timothy was generally regarded as a strange guy, but people liked him). 

Lilana also did not know that, to Prince Joe, she was anything but ordinary. In fact, Joe thought Lilana to be the most magnificent thing in the universe. She also didn’t know (well, nobody knew this) that Prince Joe had actually seen her little adventure. And he didn’t like her any less for it. 

Joe had gotten up at two-thirty in the morning for a glass of water. As he was making his way back to bed, he thought that he saw a figure running through the darkness. Startled, he rushed to his room, which was in the only turret of Yitzu Castle. He turned off the lamp beside his bed, and grabbed a pair of binoculars. Eagerly, Joe sat cross-legged on his bed and peered out the window, looking for signs of movement. The moon wasn’t particularly bright, but, at last, he found a figure standing next to that old building Strange Timothy wanted to do something with. It was nearly three a.m. by now, and this person was just standing there, looking at the wall. Most peculiar. 

Joe turned the binoculars onto their highest possible power, so that he was staring at the back of their head. Whoever this person was, they had certainly done a good job of disguising themself. Joe looked them up and down, spotting nothing identifying. The person looked antsy, so Joe guessed that they were annoyed, scared, or itchy. Or all of the above. They were starting to pace around and kick the wall. After a few minutes, Joe was considering going back to sleep. Suddenly, though, the person reached down to the ground and grabbed something. Joe figured it was probably a paintbrush, or something similar, because they next dipped it into what looked like a can of paint at their feet. The person squared their shoulders and stepped forward. 

The prince grinned. It looked like Timothy’s building was going to acquire some decoration. Joe watched as this peculiar person began to write on the wall. He squinted, trying to make out the letters. Finally, he managed to read it. “Craphole,” it said. He’d never been so perplexed. Craphole? It sounded kind of like something Lilana would say. (She got frustrated a lot). Joe gasped, and slapped his binoculars back over his eyes. He quickly trained them on the bottom of the head thingy that the person was wearing. Someone with as much hair as Lilana couldn’t keep it all contained under that thing. Sure enough, a couple strands of red hair were poking out. His heart racing, Joe focused the binoculars on the person’s right hand, just as they were picking up a can. He smiled broadly at what he saw. The moment he saw the figure’s right hand sport a star-shaped birthmark; the moment he was sure it was Lilana, would be forever preserved in his memory. After all, it was the moment he fell completely and mercilessly in love. 

The end (or “the beginning”, if you prefer)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think in the comments.


End file.
